A major border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed on October 15 following clashes between the two countries’ security forces, leaving hundreds of people and vehicles stranded on both sides.

The Chamman-Spin Boldak border crossing was shut on October 14 after an exchange of fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces that lasted for several hours, officials in both countries said.

The clashes erupted when Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani soldiers who were trying to erect a fence along the disputed border between the two neighbors.

"We are ready to defend our soil in any case," Zia Durani, a spokesman for the police chief in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province, told RFE/RL on October 15.

Both sides blamed each other for the closure of the border crossing.

Afghan media reported that at least three Pakistani soldiers were killed in the October 14 fighting.

Khan Wasseh, a spokesman for the Frontier Constabulary paramilitary force manning the Pakistani side of the border, denied that.

Pakistan says it is building a fence along its volatile border with Afghanistan to improve security, a move that has sparked condemnations in Kabul.

Radio Mashaal was launched in January 2010 in order to counter a growing number of Islamic extremist radio stations in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the border with Afghanistan.